Filament mounting machine



y 3, 1956 F. J. GRUBE ET AL 2,752,957

FILAMENT MOUNTING MACHINE Filed Feb. 1, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet l Inventors: FredeNcK J Grubg Louis A DemchocK Sr, by M6 Then At orney y 1956 F. J. GRUBE ETAL 2,752,957

FILAMENT MOUNTING MACHINE Filed Feb. 1, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventors: FredericK J. Grube,

Louis A. Demo 00K Sn,

Their" A Lorney llnite States Patent 9 FILAMENT MUUNTING MACHINE Frederick J. Grube and Louis A. Demchock, Sr., Cleveland, Ohio, assignors to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application February 1, 1955, Serial No. 485,557 4 Claims. (Cl. Mil-71.6)

Our invention relates to lamp making machinery generally, and more particularly to filament mounting machines.

Certain incandescent lamps of relatively small wattage require a relatively long coiled filament which must be supported on a multiplicity of support wires arranged in a manner to concentrate the filament in a compact arrangement about the axis of the stem, in order that the filament may be inserted through the relatively small neck portion of a glass bulb. In order to provide the proper filament arrangement in certain cases, it is necessary that the free ends of the lead Wires, to which the ends of the filament are secured, be arranged rather closely to the stem or, more specifically, to the end of an arbor projecting from the flare or stem tube. However, it is not feasible to initially form the lead wires of such a length that their ends will be located in such close relationship to the arbor because, in that event, there is insufiicient space to accommodate the elements of an automatic filament transfer mechanism which carries the ends of the filament into proper mounting relationship to hooks in the ends of the lead wires.

it therefore becomes necessary to initially form the lead wires of such length that they extend beyond the arbor sufficiently to provide room for the filament transfer rnechanism, and to subsequently re-form the lead wires to bring their ends into the desired close relationship to the arbor.

In accordance with one aspect of our invention, it is an object thereof to provide a single mechanism which will perform the dual function of clamping the lead wires about the filament ends and also re-form the lead wires into their final desired position with respect to the stem or arbor. This has the advantage of dispensing with the need for a separate re-forming mechanism occupying an other station of the machine, and also improving the operating speed of the machine.

Further features and advantages of our invention will appear from the following detailed description of a species thereof, and from the drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing a filament feeding and transferring mechanism in operative association with a lead wire clamping and forming mechanism in accordance with our invention;

Fig. 2 is a front view, in elevation, of the lead wire clamping and forming mechanism;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary front elevation, on an enlarged scale, showing the lead wire clamping jaws in operative relation to a stem;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation showing the lead wire clamping and forming mechanism and a portion of the filament feeding and transferring mechanisms;

Fig. 5 is an elevation of the lead wire clamping and forming mechanism as it appears at the end of its lead wire forming operation;

Fig. 6 is an elevation of cam means for operating the lead wire clamping and forming mechanism; and

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a lamp stem having a ice filament attached thereto and with the lead wires shown in their final re-formed position.

Referring to the drawings (particularly Figs. 4 and 7), the lamp stem 1 illustrated therein comprises a glass flare or stem tube 2 having the usual glass exhaust tube 3 joined thereto and extending upwardly therethrough, and a glass arbor 4 extending downwardly therefrom. A pair of lead wires 5 have portions thereof sealed in a flattened press portion 6 of the flare 2 and extend downwardly therefrom at an acute angle to the vertical axis of the stem (Fig. 4), the extremities of the leads 5 extending downwardly parallel to the stem axis and terminating in open hooks 7 at a point substantially beyond the end of the arbor 4. The stem is also provided with a multiplicity of support wires 3 having their ends embedded in a button at the end of the arbor 4 and radiating outwardly therefrom.

The stem 1 is supported by the jaws 9 (Figs. 4 and 5) of a suitable holder which is representative of a number of such holders arranged at the periphery of a rotatable indexing turret by means of which the holders are carried to successive Work stations. Briefly stated, the operation of the mechanisms disclosed herein is such that upon presentation of a stem thereto, the first operation is the carrying of a filament it into operative relation to the stem by means of the filament feeding and transferring mechanism indicated generally at ii. In this operation, the filament is grasped, at apoint adjacent its ends, by a pair of vacuum pick-up blocks 12 on transfer arms 13 which are at that time arranged to extend in opposite directions so as to be located under, and in alignment with, a filament indicated by dot-dash lines at 10' in Fig. 1. The arms are then swung together to form the filament into a horseshoe shape with its ends located over the lead wire hooks 7, after which the said arms 13 are lowered to deposit the filament ends within the said hooks. Thereupon the lead wire clamping and forming mechanism, illustrated generally at 14, is actuated to cause the hooks '7 to be clamped upon the filament ends by the cooperative action of an anvil 15 and jaws l6, 1?. Immediately afterward, the clamping anvil and jaws are raised to cause the lead wires 5 to be bent to the shape shown in Figs. 5 and 7 to thereby bring the ends 7 of the lead wires into their final desired position with respect to the r arbor 4- and the support wires 8.

The filament feeding portion of the filament feeding and transferring mechanism 11 (Fig. l) is of a type more fully shown and described in application Serial No. 234,628 of P. H. Durst et al., filed June 30, 1951, and assigned to the assignee of the present application. It comprises a flat table 25 upon which the coiled filaments 10 are placed by an operator, and it also includes a series of notched racks 26 movable in spaced slots in the table 25 for advancing the filaments. Guide rails 27 at opposite sides of the table 25 fix the position of the filaments laterally, the, filaments being raised from the table 25 and advanced therealong by movements of the racks 26 which lift the filaments upwardly above the surface of the table and then advance them forward along said surface. A downward movement of the racks 26 places the filaments upon the table 25 at an advanced position and carries the racks 26 below the surface of the table 25 whereupon they are retracted to their original position. The forwardmost filament is carried beyond the top surface of the table 25 to the position indicated by the dotdash lines 10' wherein the larger portion thereof rests on the ledge 28 of the table 25 and the end portions thereof rest on the gripping blocks 12 of the transfer arms 13. The arms 13 may be provided with pad members 24 for further support of the filament ends. At that time the said transfer arms 13 are held by their supporting shafts 29 so as to extend laterally in opposite directions with the gripping blocks 12 and fingers 24 substantially abutting the end of the table 25.

The filament transferring operation is initiated by the application of suction to the base of a V-shaped notch in each of the gripping blocks 12 to securely grip the ends ofthe filament. The vacuum connection is made to each of the blocks 12 by a pipe 30 (Fig. 4) and flexible rubber hose 31 which connect to a supply valve (not shown) controlled by a cam (also not shown) upon the main cam shaft 32 of the machine whereby to properly time the application of the suction.

The transfer arms 13 are now moved upwardly a short distance and then swung toward each other to bend the filament to a horseshoe shape and bring the ends thereof to a position overlying the open hooks 7 in the ends of the leads 5. Both the vertical and swinging movements of the transfer arms 13 are effected through the support shafts 29 which are retained in a bearing portion 33 projecting from the table 25. The vertical position or elevation of the arms 13 is determined by operating mechanism including a cam 34 on shaft 32. The arms 13 are connected to cam 34 through their shafts 29 the lower ends of which extend through a flange on an angle bar 35 to which they are locked by fixed collars 36, the bar 35 being mounted on a push rod 37 carrying a yoke 38 straddling the cam shaft 32 and carrying a roller 39 which engages a track 40 in the face of the cam 34.

The rotative, or angular, position of the arms 13 and shafts 29 is controlled through a rack 41 which engages a spur gear 42 on one of the shafts 29, the rack 41 being mounted for rectilinear movement within an opening in the table 25 in timed relationship with the vertical movements of the arms 13 by a cam means (not shown) on the shaft 32. The rotative motion introduced into the one shaft 29 by the spur gear 42 is transferred to the other shaft 29 by meshing spur gears 43 on both shafts 29. For a more complete disclosure of this transferring mechanism, reference may be had to application Serial No. 358,912, Carl R. Meckstroth et al., filed June 1, 1953, and assigned to the assignee of the present application.

"The transferring operation is completed when the arms 13 are lowered by the cam 34 to carry the free ends of the filament into the open hooks 7 in the leads 5. Directly afterward, the hooks 7 are closed upon the filament by the clamping mechanism 14 and then the filament is released by the transfer arms by opening the vacuum connection thereto to the atmosphere by operating means not shown. The arms 13 are then further lowered by cam 34 to carry them below the filament whereupon they are rotated to carry them back toward the filament feeding mechanism to receive another filament.

Referring more particularly to the clamping and forming mechanism 14, the anvil and jaws 16, 17 are carried by a slide member 50 mounted for vertical reciprocation in a bracket 51 on the stationary table 52. The vertical reciprocation of the slide 50 is effected by a cam track 53 in one face of the cam 54 through a roller 55 carried by a yoke 56 fastened to a push rod 57 connected to a lug 58 on the slide 50. The push rod 57 is coupled to the slide 50 through a spring 59 to permit overtravel of the rod 57 when the slide 50 has reached its uppermost limit as determined by the adjustable stop screw 60 on the standard 51.

The jaws 16, 17 are mounted for pivotal movement about pins 61 and are normally retained in an open position by the spring 62. The closing of the jaws 16, 17 is effected by a wedge 63 (Fig. 2) slidably mounted on slide 50 and engaging rollers 64 on the lower ends of said jaws. The wedge 63 is actuated through a push rod 65 from a cam track 66 (Figs. 4 and 6) in cam 54 F and engaging a roller 67 carried by a yoke 68 attached to the lower end of said push rod.

At the time of indexing of the stem 1 and holder 9 into operative relation to the filament feeding and lead wire clamping mechanisms, the clamping mechanism 14 is in a somewhat lower position than that illustrated in Fig. 4 to provide clearance for the stem 1. As the slide 50 is raised by the cam track 53 to the position shown in Fig. 4 to bring the clamping members 15, 16, 17 into proper registry with the lower ends of the lead wires 5, the jaws 16, 17 are actuated by the cam track 66 to clamp the hooks '7 securely around the filament. This motion is effected by a corresponding rise portion in each of the cam tracks 66 and 5'3. Thereupon, further rotation of the cam track 53 causes the slide 50 to rise still further, into engagement with stop screw 60, while the lead wires 5 are firmly held by the clamping jaws 16, 17. This motion forms the lead wires 5 into their final desired position as shown in Figs. 5 and 6. Continued rotation of the cam 54 brings the drop portions 76 and 77 of tracks 66 and 53, respectively, into engagement with rollers 67 and 55 to reverse the direction of movement of the push rods 57 and 65 to open the jaws 16, 1'7 and lower the slide 50 to bring the mechanism 14 into position to permit the stem 1 to be indexed to the next station.

in order to assure proper formation of the lead wires 5, we provide a retaining means which may be in the form of a bracket 69 extending upwardly from the top of each of the jaws 16, 17 and secured thereto by screws 70, together with a third bracket 71 extending upwardly from the upper end of the slide 50 and secured thereto by a screw 72. The upstanding portions of the brackets 69 and 71 thereby form a three-sided enclosure which prevents buckling of the lead wires 5 in undesired directions.

While we have described a preferred embodiment of our invention, we do not wish to be limited to the details of structure shown herein as it will be understood that many modifications of the precise manner by which our invention is carried into effect may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In combination with means for holding a stem having a pair of lead wires extending generally downwardly and terminating in hook portions and means for holding a. filament with its ends disposed in said hooks, a clamping and forming mechanism comprising jaw members, means for first moving said jaw members into registry with said hook portions and means for then closing said jaws to clamp said hooks upon the said ends of said filament, said means for moving said jaw members being operable to subsequently move said jaw members upwardly while still gripping said hook portions to reform the lead wires and elevate the ends thereof to a desired relationship to the stem, and means for moving and closing said jaw members in proper timed relationship as aforesaid.

2. In combination with means for holding a stem having a pair of lead wires extending generally downwardly and terminating in hook portions and means for holding a filament with its ends disposed in said hooks, a clamping and forming mechanism comprising jaw members having upstanding retainer portions adjacent gripping surfaces thereof, means for first moving said jaw members into registry with said hook portions and means for then closing said jaws to'clamp said hooks upon the said ends of said filament with said retainer portions extending alongside said lead wires, said means for moving said jaw members being operable to subsequently move said jaw members upwardly while still gripping said hook portions to reform the lead wires and elevate the ends thereof to a desired position, said retainer portions serving to prevent lateral bowing of said lead wires during the reformation there, and means for moving and closing said jaw members in proper timed relationship as aforesaid.

3. In combination with a holder for a stern having a pair of lead wires extending downwardly therefrom with hooks at their lower ends enclosing the ends of a filament, a lead wire clamping and forming device comprising a slide member, means mounting said slide member below said holder for vertical reciprocation, an anvil mounted on said slide member, a pair of movable jaws mounted on said slide member at opposite sides of said anvil, and means for actuating said slide to first raise the slide member to bring the anvil and jaws into registry with the lower ends of the lead wires of the stem in said holder and to then further raise said slide a predetermined distance, means for actuating said jaws to close them against said anvil when they are in registry with the lower ends of the lead wires to clamp the hooks upon the filament and for maintaining said jaws closed during the aforesaid further raising of the slide to thereby reform the lead wires into a desired position, and means to move said slide and close the jaws in timed relationship to one another,

4. in combination with a holder for a stern having a pair of lead wires extending downwardly therefrom with hooks at their lower ends enclosing the ends of a filament, a lead wire clamping and forming device comprising a slide member, means mounting said slide member below said holder for vertical reciprocation, an anvil mounted on said slide member, a pair of movable jaws mounted on said slide member at opposite sides of said anvil, and means for actuating said slide to first raise the slide member to bring the anvil and jaws into registry with the lower ends of the lead wires of the stern in said holder and to then further raise said slide a predetermined distance, means for actuating said jaws to close them against said anvil when they are in registry with the lower ends of the lead wires to clamp the hooks upon the filament and for maintaining said jaws closed dur ng the aforesaid further raising of the slide to thereby reform the lead wires into a desired position, and means to move said slide and close the jaws in timed relationship to one another, and retainer members carried by said jaws and said slide and extending upwardly therefrom adjacent said anvil to restrain said lead wires from outward bowing during the reforming operation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

